Warning, Google may hand over your data to the police!…wait, what!?

I am sure by now we have all heard about Google’s CEO’s blunder a few weeks ago, and while many people use this as ammo to bash Google and the entire concept of cloud computing, and while from and public relations point of view, it probably wasn’t the best thing for him to say, I would like to actually use my brain and present a sane reason as to why he would say something like that. But first, a few disclaimers:

1) This is just a theory, I have in no way contacted Google’s CEO for a statement, everything written here is my opinion, which I am entitled to (at least here in the USA, not sure how that works in other countries.)

2) I am a Christian, and as such I: 1) don’t believe in paranoid conspiracy theories (emphasis on theory, if you can prove it then that’s a whole new ball game) and 2) I try to assume the best in people and give them the benefit of the doubt (and yes many people have told me that’s a bad idea, but I still believe it’s what God calls me to do.)

Anywho, all that being said I now present my theory as to why Google’s CEO said what he said:

There are many groups of people who bash the concept of cloud computing saying it involves to many security and privacy issues, among other reasons. These people often write blog post explaining why you shouldn’t trust cloud computing, calling on the past flukes and failures of cloud computing, which by the way I will be writing a post explaining the pros and cons of cloud computing and why the majority of computer users will and already are using it. Anywho back to my theory; in these articles, among the reasons not to use cloud computing is the issue of Google and other companies just handing over your data to third parties, which is a valid concern, however they then go on to list the potential third-parties Google could hand your data over to, and the first one they usually list is (drum roll please)….law enforcement a.k.a. The police. Now what I am about to explain my shock and disturb some of you, so if your standing please sit down. Okay here is the shocking truth, the police are the GOOD GUYS!!! That being said lets look at the logic, if your not doing anything illegal what on earth are the police going to do with your data? The police are only concerned with criminals, they don’t have time to look at your Kim Possible fantasy fan-fics and make fun of you for it. It’s just like real life, if the police get a warrant and look through your house and your truly not guilty, they won’t find anything. So please tell me what documents or emails do you have that you don’t want the police looking at? And encase your not losing enough sleep worrying about Google sifting through the data of hundreds of millions of users did you know that all your emails and phone calls are completely insecure and in the USA there is a law in effect that gives the government and law enforcement the right to look at your emails and tap your calls with out you knowing. Now when we couple this logic with the fact that Google is perhaps the biggest proponent of cloud computing it is understandable that they may have taken these bashing posts a little personally, and it’s no secret that when people take things personally they tend to do or say things that perhaps they shouldn’t. So there it is, my theory as to why Google’s CEO said what he did. If you want to comment I only ask that you be sane and rational about your comments, you are free to disagree with me but no flaming, present your argument in a respectable, non-insulting manner. I do moderate my comments and I will reject any flame post.

In my next post I will explain why I think the reasoning of anti-cloud people are either wrong, aren’t relevant (either to the time frame or to “normal” computer users) or are valid but blown way out of proportion.